As of 4 p.m., Friday, March 3, 2017, the 31st day of the regular session of the 83rd Legislature, 934 bills have been introduced in the West Virginia House of Delegates. Of those bills 23 have passed this week. Two of those are completed legislation and 21 of which have been sent to the Senate for further consideration. Among those:
House Bill 2526 adds drugs to Schedules I, II, IV, and V of controlled substances.
House Bill 2554 would transfer the West Virginia Contractor Act from administration and regulation by the Division of Labor to regulation under the provisions of professions and occupations in chapter thirty of code.
House Bill 2571 would require the State Department of Education and the Schools for the Deaf and the Blind to jointly select language developmental milestones from existing standardized norms for purposed of developing a resource for use by parents to monitor and track deaf or hard-of-hearing children’s expressive and receptive language acquisition and developmental stage towards English literacy.
House Bill 2675 designs the placement of nonpartisan judicial offices on the primary election ballot.
House Bill 2706 would authorize legislative rules for the Higher Education Policy Commission regarding the West Virginia Higher Education Grant Program, Providing Real Opportunities for Maximizing In-state Student Excellence (PROMISE), Research Trust Fund Program, and Annual Reauthorization of Degree-Granting Institutions and to authorize legislative rules for the Council for Community and Technical College Education regarding the Annual Reauthorization of Degree-Granting Institutions, and Business, Occupational and Trade Schools.
House Bill 2726 would authorize home incarceration officers to arrest participants for violating the terms and conditions of his or her supervision with or without a court order.
House Bill 2731 would clarify that only civil actions with controversial amounts exceeding $7,500 must be heard in circuit court, except in actions relating to real estate installment sales contracts or actions confined exclusively by the Constitution to some other tribunal.
House Bill 2503 would update the rulemaking authority of the Board of Osteopathic Medicine.
House Bill 2540 would permit a person to practice his or her profession for seven days for a charitable function.
House Bill 2628 would clarify and strengthen the duties and powers of the Board of Medicine and the Board of Medicine with regard to evidence of serious misconduct by licensees and applicants for license under their respective jurisdictions.
House Bill 2367 would establish a criminal offense of organized retail crime.
House Bill 2579 would increase the penalties for transporting controlled substances.
House Bill 2674 would relate to access to and receipt of certain information regarding a Protected Person.
House Bill 2678 would change the amounts of prejudgment and post-judgement interest to reflect today’s economic conditions.
House Bill 2691 would allow a person who is qualified by training to be a barber and a cosmetologist to elect to practice solely as a barber.
House Bill 2725 would restrict the authority of the Board of Barbers and Cosmetologists to regulate the use of commonly available retail beauty products.
House Bill 2459 would update regulations relating to health care, define terms, and add/clarify exemptions.
House Bill 2509 would permit a physician to prescribe certain controlled substances when using telemedicine technologies. This would allow people who live a distance from doctor to receive treatment.
House Bill 2590 would update the meaning of “federal taxable income” and certain other terms used in the West Virginia Corporation Net Income Tax Act by bringing them into conformity with their meaning for Internal Revenue Code’s definitions and specifying effective dates.
House Bill 2594 would update the meaning of “federal adjusted gross income” and certain other terms used in the West Virginia Personal Income Tax Act and specify effective dates.
House Bill 2653 would extend the multistate real-time tracking system to June 30, 2023.
Additional House Bills
House Bill 2446 would require state agencies to maintain a website with their contact information, frequently asked questions, office hours, rules that govern the agency, and other information. All of the agencies already have websites and this bill would only require this certain information to be on them and for it to be updated. There was no fiscal note included in the bill. For those agencies that wouldn’t comply, they would be audited.
House Bill 2427 would require that the state phone directory be updated with correct contact information. The timeframe for updates would be within 30 days of an employment change. This bill was drafted due to the state phone directory not being updated and having people who had passed away on it and new employees not being updated.
House Bill 2767 would allow undeliverable mail by the Secretary of State to be able to be emailed to circuit clerks. This bill’s purpose is to speed up technical issues regarding lawsuits.
House Bill 2792 would require the Library Commission to do a survey of the libraries in the state and report back to Governor Justice and the Legislature regarding repairs and the status of the libraries, in order to make a plan of updating them. There was no fiscal not attached.
House Bill 2344 would transfer the assets of the Library Commission relating to the Library Television Network to the Educational Broadcasting Authority. This bill would improve the product of the Library Television Network from standard definition videos, bad quality, and minimal views on the internet to what West Virginia Public Broadcasting can give them.
House Bill 2591 would create a new article in the West Virginia Code. This article would create a tax credit for companies that have underneath 25 employees. The credit would be in the amount of $100,000 or under. The credit would be calculated by matching 50% of whatever the small business spends on advertising, marketing, and branding, up to the maximum amount. In order to be eligible, the business must also have its corporate headquarters in West Virginia. The bill would take effect after Dec. 31st, 2017 and is for any small businesses regardless of age. There is a fiscal note on the bill of $2,000 per year. A small business could also only take advantage of this tax credit for five consecutive years.
House Bill 2771 permits the state superintendent to issue temporary certificates to out of state teachers who are the spouses of members of the Armed Forces who are on active duty stationed in the state. The license would be a one-year license, which would be renewable each year.
House Bill 2704 would prohibit persons convicted of sexual offenses against children with whom they hold positions of trust from holding certification or license valid in public schools. The bill was amended previously by the education committee to only revoke the license but would not add fines or imprisonment.
House Bill 2781 would require a person desiring to vote to present documentation identifying the voter to one of the poll clerks. The valid IDs would include a West Virginia driver’s license, passport, employee ID card produced by the state or institutions of the state, and military ID card. Those failing to provide those forms of identification would be able to vote under a provisional ballot. Those living in a residential care home would be exempt along with those who have a religious objection to photography. The bill would also repeal the automatic voter registration program. A fiscal note was requested in order to find out the cost of the free identification cards the DMV would be producing underneath the bill.
House Bill 2574 would create a special pilot program to introduce seventh and eighth grade students to career and technical education opportunities in the State of West Virginia. The program is designed to better prepare students for post-secondary education and participate in the workforce.
House Bill 2618 would remove the requirement that a student’s body mass index be obtained in schools, which is done in physical education classes in public schools.
House Bill 2720 would permit the School Building Authority to transfer funds from the School Construction Fund into a special revenue account in the State Treasury.
